KABUL, Afghanistan -- The toll from a suicide bombing in Afghanistan reached about 50 dead and more than 100 injured, it was reported Wednesday.

The Tuesday blast was set off by a bomber wearing explosives among a crowd welcoming a parliamentary group at a sugar factor in Baglan, about 90 miles north of Kabul, The Guardian reported.

Among those killed were children and six lawmakers, including former Commerce Minister Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, Xinhua reported.

Afghan Public Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fadimi told Xinhua about 50 people were killed and 100 to 150 others were injured, and the number of casualties could go up.

Xinhua reported there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but quoted a purported Taliban spokesman as saying, “It's a really bad incident, but Taliban has nothing to do with that.”

However, such denials by the Taliban have proved unreliable in the past.

A U.S. military spokesman was quoted as saying he had no information to show if al-Qaida was involved.

But former Finance Minister Hamidullah Tarwi, blaming the attack on the Taliban, telling the Christian Science Monitor the militants want to show they can act with impunity even outside Afghanistan's southern region.